SCHOOL PROGRAMME AND ORGANISATION


Introduction
Registration takes place at the Yeats Memorial Building, Douglas Hyde Bridge, on Saturday, from 10.30 a.m. to 6.00 p.m. The Official Opening Lecture of the School takes place on Sunday afternoon, at a ceremony hosted by the Mayor of Sligo. A scenic tour of Yeats Country concludes with evensong at Drumcliffe Church, where Yeats is buried, "Under bare Benbulben's head". This is followed by an evening reception and buffet for students and lecturers.

Lectures
Each weekday morning there are lectures at 9.30 a.m. and 11.15 a.m. in the Hawk's Well Theatre, with coffee and tea available between the lectures. One series of lectures /seminars focuses on specific periods of Yeats's poetry and is designed to cover the whole canon during the two weeks. Another series explores the designated themes and grows out of the current research of the lecturers. Afternoons are free for impromptu discussion sessions, for study in the Yeats Society Library, or for exploring Sligo and the surrounding landscape, from Knocknarea to Rosses Point, which offers great hiking, a spectacular beach, a golf course and excellent pubs.

Seminars
The week-long seminars, in groups comprising on average twelve students, meet daily from 4.30 to 6.00 p.m. The basic texts are Collected Poems (Albright or Jeffares) and Collected Plays, and texts for all seminars will be available at Keohane's Bookshop and the Book Nest. Students may prepare for the School by reading Yeats's Autobiographies; Roy Foster or Terence Brown's biography of Yeats; a critical text such as Richard Ellmann's Yeats: The Man and the Masks, and a history of modern Ireland. The tutors are available for consultation on theses and other research projects. The lectures, seminars and special educational events total more than forty-five hours of work, the equivalent of most unit or three-credit courses. By arrangement with the director and with the prior approval of the student's home institution, provision may be made for academic credit through additional seminar exercises, consultations and an essay.

Evenings
On most evenings, there are special presentations by distinguished writers, musicians, dancers and storytellers. Plays, concerts and other events are normally run as part of a Sligo festival at this time also. There is also a student poetry reading.

Tours
In addition to the initial tour of Yeats Country, the programme arranges optional tours to Lough Gill, Lissadell House, Coole Park and Thoor Ballylee, and the Carrowmore megalithic cemetery. We also will journey to a country pub for an evening of traditional music and instruction in Irish set-dancing.

Social Centre
The Yeats Memorial Building is open daily as the Social Centre for students, for study, relaxation, networking with lecturers and fellow students, collecting mail, etc..